10 Reasons the iPad will bring upon the revolution;

[surferfromuk]

Some thoughts. This is a super quick list of some of the things it's going to make happen.

1) It will get people reading credible authentic texts, professionally published magazines and books again. Book rentals may even happen like Movie rentals. Days spent scavenging around the net and filling your head with second rate poorly researched garbage masquerading as fact will now become optional. Internet research will finally have meaning and value.

2) It will enable ‘big media’ publishers to reach an online audience who have disengaged or have *never* engaged with traditional well researched printed forms.

3) Magazines and newspapers will be able to monetize their content through iTunes and readers will be able to enjoy magazines wherever they go. Ads may become a thing of pleasure ( as they often are in proper magazines)

4) It will help save the environment. Sunday Papers alone are HUGE, often 4 inches thick. Replacing this with a digital sunday newspaper (that can be effortlessly paid for through iTunes) will stop the printing and transnational distribution of destructive ‘read-once’ and dispose printing processes. To enjoy magazines and periodicals means we can stop destroying forests. 20 years hence book printing will cease but someone will invent a ‘print-on-demand’ service which optionally allows you to order up a ‘printed’ copy if it’s absolutely necessary

5) Books may evolve. A textbook or encyclopedia can be printed in an exciting electronic format and integrated with movies, images and connecting stories that can be revised and updated instantly
People who really only just needed a laptop, can buy nice big screen iMacs again and just use economic, truly portable iPads for access on the go.

6) Your ‘mom’ can use one without needing to call on Junior for tech support, or to fix virus or spyware problems. It will connect and digitally empower those who don’t want to or are not capable of maintaining complex computer systems. It facilitates access to the internet for billions who no longer need a ‘resident guru’ to make things happen.

7) You can touch your information. Hands on manipulation of data - the possibilities are as yet unimagined. iPhone only hints at the possibility, iPad offers a doorway to a future of creative cybernetic manipulation.

8) The SDK will evolve to permit anyone to become a magazine or book publisher (albeit that conflicts with point 1, it will be clearer as to the origin of credible content)

9) It’s cheap and will over the next decade get cheaper to the point of absurdity.

10) They are going to be a ton of fun in a social space and for families. Group games and social interfacing with people and organisations 'on the street' will boom with these things.

 

[BobHail]

Yes a revolution, that we all will be locked soon into (iPhone) OS prison. And operating systems like OS X will be forgotten.

It´s same thing with: "Oh please take my freedoms away so I´m safe from the evil terrorists!".

 

[miles01110]

1) 2) 10)

I think you're forgetting that this only applies to people that actually buy one.

Ads may become a thing of pleasure ( as they often are in proper magazines)

Ads are a thing of pleasure? wtf?

4) It will help save the environment.

Yes and no. Printing has gotten a lot more eco-friendly in recent years, and it's not as if more electronics has no negative environmental consequences.

5) Books may evolve.

Already happening.

6) Your ‘mom’ can use one without needing to call on Junior for tech support, virus or spyware problems.

Any computer that is functioning well requires little to no tech-savviness to operate. Unfortunately things don't always function well. There will always be computer problems the average person can't figure out, and to suggest the iPad will have no problems is ignorant of how the real world works.

7) You can touch your information. Hands on manipulation of data - the possibilities are as yet unimagined. iPhone only hints at the possibility, iPad offers a doorway to a future of creative cybernetic manipulation.

This goes both ways as well. Some things are just better served with a point-and-click as opposed to a touch interface.

8) The SDK will evolve to permit anyone to become a magazine or book publisher (albeit that conflicts with point 1, it will be clearer as to the origin of credible content)

Right, because the SDK is so user-friendly More likely they'll have some sort of service where you can input a pdf or text file and it will convert into an iBook. There won't be any SDK involved for the end-user.

9) It’s cheap and will over the next decade get cheaper to the point of absurdity.

I highly doubt we'll still be using the iPad as we know it in a decade.

10) They are going to be a ton of fun in a social space and for families. Group games and social interfacing with people and organisations 'on the street' will boom with these things.

Completely speculative.

 

[BobHail]

6) Your ‘mom’ can use one without needing to call on Junior for tech support, virus or spyware problems.

Your mom still needs to know how to operate a Mac (or a Windows PC with iTunes), so what´s the point then for iPad, when your mom just can use a Mac?

IT`S NOT A STANDALONE DEVICE!!! People are forgetting this!

 

[fobfob]

9) It’s cheap and will over the next decade get cheaper to the point of absurdity.

I disagree about this. The price is set and will remain, with only minor reductions. The reason we will still buy is that it will evolve over time, adding new features (things it's supposed to have now, according to the critics). The camera and the screen are the most obvious enhancements, along with better connectivity, faster processors, longer battery life, better graphics. iWork could get bundled, or iLife, once it comes out. All this will ensure the price point is sustainable.

 

[Ragnar]

5) Books may evolve. A textbook or encyclopedia can be printed in an exciting electronic format and integrated with movies, images and connecting stories that can be revised and updated instantly
People who really only just needed a laptop, can buy nice big screen iMacs again and just use economic, truly portable iPads for access on the go.

You're describing the internet, it's already been invented by Al Gore When an iPad does as much as a netbook people can give up their Macbooks, until then you'd be totally crippled.

 

[surferfromuk]

I think you're forgetting that this only applies to people that actually buy one.


Ads are a thing of pleasure? wtf?



Yes and no. Printing has gotten a lot more eco-friendly in recent years, and it's not as if more electronics has no negative environmental consequences.



Already happening.


Any computer that is functioning well requires little to no tech-savviness to operate. Unfortunately things don't always function well. There will always be computer problems the average person can't figure out, and to suggest the iPad will have no problems is ignorant of how the real world works.



This goes both ways as well. Some things are just better served with a point-and-click as opposed to a touch interface.



Right, because the SDK is so user-friendly More likely they'll have some sort of service where you can input a pdf or text file and it will convert into an iBook. There won't be any SDK involved for the end-user.



I highly doubt we'll still be using the iPad as we know it in a decade.



Completely speculative.

1) In Womens magazines ( and car magazines) Ads are a massive part of the reason they are purchased. Great print Ads are a thing of beauty long lost with the coming of the crappy banner Ad.
2) Most people are just not interested in computers, and especially not how they work or need tweaking with. We on here are so very far from 'most people'. iPad is an attempt at that - how successful it will be nobody knows right now
3) SDK - ok, maybe an App like Garageband or iMovie
4) True - exciting idea
5) I hope they'll halve in price over the next 5 years with the economies of scale, but I agree that 'high-end' ones ( probably dual-bootable) will come in and sit at the top-end.
6) Already happening with the iPhone - no reason it won't bump up a notch with iPad

 

[fobfob]

Your mom still needs to know how to operate a Mac (or a Windows PC with iTunes), so what´s the point then for iPad, when your mom just can use a Mac?

IT`S NOT A STANDALONE DEVICE!!! People are forgetting this!

Well new content can be downloaded (bought) wirelessly using iTunes, iBooks and App stores.

As for existing media catalogs, I agree that this is a shortcoming of the iPad as it stands.

In a Star Trek style utopia, MobileMe could offer multi-terrabyte storage (and thus be actually useful) so that your entire digital "life" can be in the cloud. You sync to the "cloud", thus you don't need a PC at all.

Alternatively, Apple could offer a time capsule type device (or just modify existing) to allow backups of iPad, Time Machine style. All that could be done with fairly simple software updates. Media could be imported with fairly simple software via USB, or perhaps you sync once from your PC iTunes (presume you had one before the iPad otherwise you are starting from scratch and hence this doesn't matter anyway).

In other words, while I agree, it is not a major step to remove this shortcoming.

 

[surferfromuk]

You're describing the internet, it's already been invented by Al Gore When an iPad does as much as a netbook people can give up their Macbooks, until then you'd be totally crippled.

There's a huge difference between a single page of a book or a magazine and a page on an internet that's stuffed with crappy ads, borders, panels, buttons, placeholders, tags, rss, scrappy bits of formatting, not to mention the embedded navigation bars for the site, forms, contacts, etc etc..web pages are usually always filled with other crapola.

What were talking about is something that delivers a 'clean possibly tastefully animated reading' experience.

 

[master-ceo]

I can't wait to load my Art of War book on their and all my computer music magazines along with countless user manuals that I need.

 

[steve-p]

There's a huge difference between a single page of a book or a magazine and a page on an internet that's stuffed with crappy ads, borders, panels, buttons, placeholders, tags, rss, scrappy bits of formatting, not to mention the embedded navigation bars for the site, forms, contacts, etc etc..web pages are usually always filled with other crapola.

I think you're right about that. Unfortunately I also think that the people who are paid to design the ads will not be able to help themselves putting the same amount of interactive annoying crap into ebooks and magazines. The only reason they don't do that in paper magazines and books is because they can't.

 

[samcraig]

Some thoughts. This is a super quick list of some of the things it's going to make happen.

1) Already happening. Evidence is that Apple saw the market and wanted in on it.

2) Big media publishers are already active on the internet. This is just another delivery system

4) Unfortunately or fortunately - print isn't going away. Print runs might lessen - but the percentage of users using digital media isn't great enough to stop it all together. Do some research - you'd be amazed how many people don't even have internet let alone a computer in their home still across the country - across the world. You can't go by urban statistics.

5) Wow - you mean like Encarta has been doing since the 80s? An interactive encyclopedia with pictures, video, audio and text? Amazing!!

6) I know several very smart older americans who can't operate their itouch, iphone or even a simple cell phone....

9) Again - do research. Cheap for who? People need to stop being geocentric when they make comments like this. It may be a great price for a great device - but it's a luxury item. Call me when they give every student in school one for free and then tell me it's cheap.

 

[barkomatic]

Keeping books in electronic format doesn't save the environment. The iPad will need constant charging to keep running and that ultimately means burning fossil fuel. When Apple releases a solar charger then I'll agree.

 

[zarusoba]

Keeping books in electronic format doesn't save the environment. The iPad will need constant charging to keep running and that ultimately means burning fossil fuel. When Apple releases a solar charger then I'll agree.

It's not only that: the server farms required to store all this media are huge energy consumers.

However, fossil-fuels are not a necessity. The onus is on companies like Apple to develop sustainable methods of running server farms, and as you say, powering the devices themselves.

 

[sushi]

IT`S NOT A STANDALONE DEVICE!!! People are forgetting this!

For some people, who's computer needs are minimal, it may just be enough for them.

Most folks use computers to browse the web, do e-mail, light word processing, some spreadsheets and a presentation or two. The iPad meets these needs.

 

[cube]

It's not even an electronic ink device. That's not a print revolution.

 

[Epicurus]

Some things are just better served with a point-and-click as opposed to a touch interface.

I am highly suspicious of this. Certainly the point-and-click interface is much more familiar and applications have evolved over the past thirty years or so to utilize this interface to its fullest, but I highly doubt that it is inherently better than touch at anything.

True touch, by which I mean capacitive multi-touch, is very young right now, having only been broadly available for less than five years. The iPad, when it is available for sale, will be the first "large" screen device using this interface. This makes the iPad OS the first semi-large screen OS to be touch-only. Just as the point-and-click OS didn't show up overnight (remember Lisa?), and just as the point-and-click interface has yet to completely kill off the command line interface (I'm looking at you, Terminal), I don't expect that touch will conquer everything overnight. I do feel, however, that just as the mouse and desktop interface is better at everything that the command line could do, that touch is better at everything the mouse can do. And just as the click interface brought with it a world of new interactions that the command line couldn't even dream of, the future of touch will be every bit as different from the click interfaces of the past.

To be fair, the command line is faster at many things than an equally capable but poorly designed click interface (hence the very existence of the Terminal app on the Mac). Similarly, making a click interface touch enabled doesn't just make things better by magic (see the ModBook tablets). User interface designers need to ponder the implications of touch and multi-touch and unlearn all that they think they know from click interfaces. This is the single best reason for the iPad being an evolution up from the iPhone and not down from the Mac. For all its advances, the Mac has yet to fully free itself from its command line roots. The iPhone, however, is a radical break from the past interface metaphors and is ripe for future growth.

 

[steve-p]

I do feel, however, that just as the mouse and desktop interface is better at everything that the command line could do, that touch is better at everything the mouse can do.

You can move the mouse pointer by a single pixel at a time when necessary. You will never be able to do that with your finger, so tasks that require pinpoint accuracy won't be possible.

 

[DaLurker]

I am highly suspicious of this. Certainly the point-and-click interface is much more familiar and applications have evolved over the past thirty years or so to utilize this interface to its fullest, but I highly doubt that it is inherently better than touch at anything.

True touch, by which I mean capacitive multi-touch, is very young right now, having only been broadly available for less than five years. The iPad, when it is available for sale, will be the first "large" screen device using this interface. This makes the iPad OS the first semi-large screen OS to be touch-only. Just as the point-and-click OS didn't show up overnight (remember Lisa?), and just as the point-and-click interface has yet to completely kill off the command line interface (I'm looking at you, Terminal), I don't expect that touch will conquer everything overnight. I do feel, however, that just as the mouse and desktop interface is better at everything that the command line could do, that touch is better at everything the mouse can do. And just as the click interface brought with it a world of new interactions that the command line couldn't even dream of, the future of touch will be every bit as different from the click interfaces of the past.

To be fair, the command line is faster at many things than an equally capable but poorly designed click interface (hence the very existence of the Terminal app on the Mac). Similarly, making a click interface touch enabled doesn't just make things better by magic (see the ModBook tablets). User interface designers need to ponder the implications of touch and multi-touch and unlearn all that they think they know from click interfaces. This is the single best reason for the iPad being an evolution up from the iPhone and not down from the Mac. For all its advances, the Mac has yet to fully free itself from its command line roots. The iPhone, however, is a radical break from the past interface metaphors and is ripe for future growth.

Great writeup comparing the evolution of UI interaction, for what its worth I agree. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

 

[samcraig]

You can move the mouse pointer by a single pixel at a time when necessary. You will never be able to do that with your finger, so tasks that require pinpoint accuracy won't be possible.

Indeed - without a stylus or some other external "add on" - the iPad will never appeal to anyone who uses photoshop or illustrator and requires pin point accuracy.

Not to mention - unless the file structure on the iPad is opened up for transfers (and easily) - who wants to keep shuffling things (and large files) back and forth.

 

[TheSpaz]

6) Your ‘mom’ can use one without needing to call on Junior for tech support, or to fix virus or spyware problems. It will connect and digitally empower those who don’t want to or are not capable of maintaining complex computer systems. It facilitates access to the internet for billions who no longer need a ‘resident guru’ to make things happen.

YES! Although Macs are very easy to use and virus free, somehow my Mom STILL screws it up because she just doesn't know what she's doing. The only thing she cares about is checking email, viewing photos and browsing the web. This would be the perfect thing for her.

She also reads... this may replace books for her too.

She's always calling me for help with this or that... it's usually very simple things to fix, but I still get the call. By the way... her computer's "B" button is broken so it often sticks and types "bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb". Having a virtual keyboard, you can almost guarantee that it won't break.

 

[fishmd]

YES! Although Macs are very easy to use and virus free, somehow my Mom STILL screws it up because she just doesn't know what she's doing. The only thing she cares about is checking email, viewing photos and browsing the web. This would be the perfect thing for her.

She also reads... this may replace books for her too.

She's always calling me for help with this or that... it's usually very simple things to fix, but I still get the call. By the way... her computer's "B" button is broken so it often sticks and types "bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb". Having a virtual keyboard, you can almost guarantee that it won't break.

But you know if you get this for her your are gonna have to return like 5 of them cause of manufacturing problems before you find the "right one." Sorry, had to say it.

 

[samcraig]

But you know if you get this for her your are gonna have to return like 5 of them cause of manufacturing problems before you find the "right one." Sorry, had to say it.

the bevel! the yellow screen! iPad 1.0 works much snappier with OS3.2 vs iPad 3.0 with OS 5!

 

[TheSpaz]

But you know if you get this for her your are gonna have to return like 5 of them cause of manufacturing problems before you find the "right one." Sorry, had to say it.

Why would I care what someone else's possession is built like? I won't return anything for her. She most likely won't notice anything wrong with it.

I'm not buying it for myself or for her, so I have nothing to worry about.

My brother has a huge crack in his iPhone back... do I care about it? Not one bit. Does he care about it? Nope. It's all good. As long as he's happy and she's happy, I'm fine.

It's my own tastes and OCD that make me return things. I couldn't care less about other people's belongings.

the bevel! the yellow screen! iPad 1.0 works much snappier with OS3.2 vs iPad 3.0 with OS 5!

I bet you think you're so cool.

 

[Epicurus]

You can move the mouse pointer by a single pixel at a time when necessary. You will never be able to do that with your finger, so tasks that require pinpoint accuracy won't be possible.

I don't want to belabor the point, but if you're working in Photoshop on a 30" screen and you're trying for pixel specific accuracy in the image, I can guarantee you that you aren't working with the image at 100% zoom. Not even if you've got your face six inches from the screen, the ppi just doesn't fly. I've done my fair share of work with Photoshop and I routinely work at 500% zoom or more. The pinch to zoom on my MacBook is enormously helpful here already. This plus a "loupe" interface reminiscent of the text entry popup and touch can exceed any pixel level prowess the mouse may claim. And if you think the magnifying glass is somehow "cheating", then what is the same feature doing in Aperture? Or the little eye dropper thing for sampling color that's already part of the Mac OS?